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DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars three Olympians sent their team into the Olympic break on a high note Saturday night. Yannick Carrasco Jersey . Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Canadas Jamie Benn assisted on Whitneys goal. The victory moved Dallas into the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference for the first time this season. "Weve come from a long way," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Youve got to give the guys credit for digging in. "I thought if we got within three or four points at the break, we could be a serious contender. Weve exceeded that." The Stars and Coyotes have identical 27-21-10 records for 64 points, but Dallas holds a tiebreaker over Phoenix, which fell to ninth. Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said his teams position at the break is "probably about where we should be. I think were better than that, but thats where we are." "Im not worrying about that too much yet," Lehtonen said of Dallas position in the standings. "Its good that were moving to the right direction. We just have to keep going." He was more impressed by defeating Phoenix twice in five days to make up four points on the Coyotes. "They were huge games both times. I really like it when we play well as a team." Dallas limited Phoenix to 27 shots, 13 in the third period. Lehtonen shut them out until Radim Vrbata scored on a power play with 15 seconds remaining. The Coyotes had six skaters to the Stars four because Tippett had pulled goalie Mike Smith, who had 31 saves. "Again (Lehtonen) was rock solid," said Ruff, an assistant coach for Canadas Olympic team. "He came up with some big saves. One when we were killing a penalty he went down low and made a glove save. He made a big stop on their breakaway when they were short-handed. "The only thing I would like to have seen was for him to get the shutout." "We couldnt generate too much offensively," Vrbata said. "But I think (Smiths) playing the way we know he can play. Hopefully, hes going to stay like that and we can do a little better for him." Whitney scored just 2:10 into the game. Nichushkin scored at 19:26 of the second period, deflecting in a shot by Trevor aley. Dallas took the early lead when Whitney carried the puck into the Phoenix zone along the left side, skated into the slot and sent a wrist shot past Smith into the upper right corner of the net. "It was kind of not much happening in the first period until we decided we didnt want to back check on a play and give them the first goal," Tippett said. "That was something we talked about as a group, if we get behind its going to be much tougher on us." The Stars ended the first period a man up and put three shots on Smith for a 7-4 edge in shots. One of Dallas shots was short-handed, as the Stars made it difficult for the Coyotes to get out of their end. Midway through the second period, Dallas had two good scoring chances, but Smith gloved a high drive by Sergei Gonchar and stopped a tip-in attempt by Benn in front of the goal. Nichushkin deflected Daleys slap shot from the blue line for the rookies 13th goal with 34 seconds left in the second period for a 1-0 lead. The goal was reviewed to see whether Nichushkins deflection was on a high stick. NOTES: Whitney has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven games against Phoenix. ... Coyotes D Derek Morris (upper-body injury) was inactive. He was hurt during Phoenixs victory over Chicago Friday. C Martin Hanzal, who missed that game because of illness, returned against Dallas. ... The Stars have not allowed more than 28 shots in any of their last 11 games. ... Vrbata has scored three goals in the last four games. ... Saturdays game was delayed briefly in the second period when linesman Ryan Galloway was upended in a collision with Whitney along the boards. Galloway stayed in the game. ... The public address announcer saluted the five Coyotes and three Stars who will be competing in the Olympics. Smith, a former Stars goalie, received almost as strong an ovation as the Dallas players. Michy Batshuayi Jersey . Needing to bulk up on both sides of the line, the Falcons agreed to terms with guard Jon Asamoah, defensive end Tyson Jackson and defensive tackle Paul Soliai. Asamoah and Jackson played last season with Kansas City, where Asamoah lost his starting job. Thomas Vermaelen Jersey . But Paul Osbaldiston, Hamiltons assistant special teams and kicking coach, said the team still relished the championship game workout.MONGOMO, Equatorial Guinea - Tournament favourite Algeria avoided an unpleasant surprise at the African Cup of Nations on Monday. Four-time champion Ghana did not.Group C kicked off in Mongomo with two comebacks as Algeria went behind and then saw South Africa miss a penalty before rallying for a 3-1 win to open its campaign.While Algeria took time to get going in far-eastern Equatorial Guinea, Ghana lost its way after leading early against Senegal. The Senegalese ensured one of the tournaments toughest groups was full of intrigue by clinching a 2-1 win over the Black Stars with substitute Moussa Sows stoppage-time winner.Algeria — by far Africas best team at last years World Cup — only lived up to its pre-tournament hype in the final 20 minutes of its African Cup opener.Thuso Phala finished a clever South African move for the surprise lead at Mongomo Stadium. But Tokelo Rantie missed a penalty three minute later, giving Algeria the impetus it needed to come back.The Algerians forced an own goal by Thulani Hlatshwayo soon after and, confidence restored, fired in two more through Faouzi Ghoulam and Islam Slimani to end up relieved winners.We had a bad 10 minutes, Algeria coach Christiann Gourcuff said. Thomas Meunier Jersey. In fact, Algeria had a pretty poor first 45 as South Africa created the far-better chances. And if Ranties penalty was inches lower at the start of the second, it would have been a tough task for the Algerians.While Algeria moved top of Group C, Ghana found itself under early pressure in its search for a long-awaited title after Senegal muscled its way to a late victory in the first game in Mongomo.Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan sat out while he recovers from a mild bout of malaria, and watched as a spectator in the dugout when Andre Ayew stroked home a penalty in the 14th minute to give the Ghanaians reward for a bright start.Things changed drastically in the second half.Senegal found its momentum and was level when Mame Biram Diouf headed against the post and reacted quickest to score from the rebound.Like Algeria, Senegal found life in the closing stages but left it right to the very end to secure its crucial opening victory, when Sow hit home with what was effectively the last kick of the match.Its good to have three points but nothing is done yet, Senegal coach Alain Giresse said.___Gerald Imray is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP Cheap Jerseys 2020 Discount Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Discount NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys ' ' '